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  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran Slowcountry Balls's Avatar
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    Twins and Large Masses in Eggs Causing Death

    As the title states, I have had some problems this season with twins and large masses causing the deaths of some of my hatchlings this year. This problem has occurred with 3 eggs, resulting in 2 hatchlings dying after pipping, 1 being dead when I cut the egg open, and 1 being only partially formed. To date, out of 19 clutches, I have had 8 slugs laid (1 from 1 clutch and 7 from a second clutch), 1 egg that looked good externally but did not have any veins, 1 egg that was half slug/half good die in incubation, 2 eggs that were completely good die in incubation, and 1 hatchling die from a twisted umbilical chord before I cut the egg open, in addition to the hatchlings that I lost due to the issue that prompted this thread.

    2014 Clutch 3 started off as 5 eggs from a Spotnose male paired to a Lesser Bee female. During incubation, 2 of those eggs died. When I cut those 2 eggs open, there were very small snakes starting to form, completely white (pictures are in this thread http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...13-2014-Season). On day 52 (the average day that my clutches pip over the last 3 season, with the probe in the incubator reading 90.0 degrees F), the first to pip was a Spider combination. I cut that egg, and saw 2 identical heads in the egg, my first set of twins! I cut the other 2 eggs and had 2 Lesser Spotnoses. I put the egg box back in the incubator and went to work. About 4 hours later, I sent a text message to my wife, asking how the twins were doing. She checked on them and replied that 1 had tried to come out and was dead and the other 1 appeared to be dead in the egg. I asked her to take pictures of them as they were, and to cut open the egg and take pictures of what she saw, and then send the pictures to me. She found that the twin that came out and died, was still attached to the other twin by its umbilical chord and that the other twin was only half formed. Here are the pictures she sent me:




    2014 Clutch 12 was supposed to be a male het Albino het Pied paired with a female het Albino het Pied, but had some unexpected results that are the topic of another thread (http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...e-Het-For-What). The female laid 11 eggs (a really impressive clutch for her first season). Early on, 2 eggs started to deflate more than the others. So, on day 49 (since I expected them to pip in 3 more days), I cut the most deflated egg. The hatchling in this egg was dead from a twisted umbilical chord. Concerned, I cut the other egg that was significantly deflated. Inside was a perfectly responsive Albino looking hatchling. I was quite excited. I removed the dead hatchling, and put the egg box back in the incubator. I waited 2 more days, but just had to know what the others in the clutch were. On day 51 I cut the remaining 9 eggs. In the first 8 eggs, I got 5 normal looking hatchlings, 2 more Albino looking hatchlings, and 2 hatchlings that I am still not sure what they are. In the last egg were fraternal twins, a normal looking hatchling and an Albino looking hatchling. Unfortunatetly, out of 11 eggs and 12 hatchlings, I did not get any Pieds. The normal looking fraternal twin was responsive, but, while the Albino looking fraternal twin was fully formed, it was dead. I tied the Albino looking fraternal twin's umbilical chord off, cut the umbilical chord, and removed it from the egg. I then placed the egg box back in the incubator. The following morning, day 52, I checked on the hatchlings, and the Albino looking hatchling, who's egg I had cut open on day 49, had tired to come out of its egg and had died. I could see that his umbilical chord was still attached to something in his egg. When I took it out of the egg, it was a rather large mass, very similar to the half formed twin from 2014 Clutch 3. The normal looking fraternal twin is doing just fine. He came out of his egg normally and while at 32 grams, he has taken a small mouse hopper last weekend and last night. Below are some pictures of the fraternal twins and the Albino looking hatchling that was attached to the mass.




    With both pairs of twins and the 1 Albino looking hatchling, there was a large mass left in the egg that looks like something quite different than unabsorbed yolk. I also can't help but wonder if I could had saved the Spider combination twin and the Albino looking hatchling that both died trying to come out of the egg if I had tied off and cut their umbilical chords. I am not dwelling on these, losses, but trying to learn for future clutches and share my experience to help others learn too.

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Slowcountry Balls For This Useful Post:

    greco (09-03-2014)

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